Loom shuttle



March" 6, 1956 H. w. RICHARDSON 2,737,210

1.00M SHUTTLE Filed June '16, 1955 INVENTOR. HOWARD W. RICHARDSON ATTORNEYS LOOM SHUTTLE Howard W. Richardson, Mansfield, Mass., assignor to Clllarles A. Richardson, Inc., a corporation of Massac usetts Application June 16, 1953, Serial No. 361,902

3 Claims. (Cl. 139-196) This invention relates to loom shuttles and more particularly to an improved form of shuttle tip and means and method of securing the tip to the shuttle body.

It has practically become the standard in the textile industry to manufacture shuttles for use in looms principally of wood or other relatively soft material and to provide at each end of the shuttle a metallic tip usually of steel or other wear-resistant material so that the shuttle will be reinforced to withstand the repeated and heavy impact of the picker on the shuttle. In the use of such shuttles considerable difiiculty often arises because the metallic tip becomes loosened by reason of the varying shocks to which they are subjected as the shuttles are projected back and forth across the loom; It has been also found that there is a tendency for the tip member to turn with respect to the shuttle in which it is mounted, and in order to overcome the twisting effect, it has been proposed to provide varying structures underneath the head of the shuttle tip which will firmly grip the wood on the end of the shuttle into which the tip is driven. Additionally, various combinations of ferrules have been utilized along with different designs of the shanks of the shuttle tips in an attempt to bind the wood in the end of the shuttle firmly against the shank of the shuttle tip.

It is therefore one of the main objects of my invention to provide a loom shuttle having tips which do not readily become loosened in service.

Another object of my invention is to provide a shuttle tip construction in which rotation about the axis of the shuttle tip shank will be prevented.

A further object of my invent-ion is to provide a reinforcing ferrule of a construction which will coact with the tip shank to prevent the tip from rotating relative to the shuttle body as well as serving to prevent splitting of the end of the shuttle body.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

- Figure l is an exploded view of one end of the shuttle, the ferrule, and the shuttle tip according to one modification of the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of one end of the shuttle showing the tip in position;

Figure 3 is a top view of the ferrule in accordance with the invention; and

Figures 4, 5, and 6 are sectional views taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2 showing various modifications of shuttle tip shanks according to the invention.

Referring now to the drawing, 10 is the shuttle body, preferably made of Wood, or a suitable resinous thermosetting plastic, the front end of which is of tapered form to merge smoothly with a metal tip 11. The spur portion 12 of the tip member 11 is of the usual curved conical shape and is provided with a shank portion 13 extending from the base thereof. The shank 13 may, if desired, be provided with the usual helical groove 14 and in accordatent ance with the present invention is provided with a portion 15 immediately to the rear or the base surface of the tip member 12 which has a non-circular cross section. The non-circular section may, if desired, extend the full length of the shank 13 and preferably is formed for about one half of the shank length. Additionally, the smallest diameter of the portion 15 may be greater than the diameter of the shank 13, although this is not necessary so long as protrusions such 'as at 22 are provided which have a diameter greater than the. diameter of the shank. The tip member 12 is also provided with an annular recess 16 on the rear or base surface thereof, so that the peripheral edge of said base surface of the tip member 12 will closely contact with the end of the shuttle body 10 although, if desired, this recess may be dispensed with.

It is the general practice in forming shuttles to first provide a shuttle blank as a square ended block of the proper length and of approximately final cross sectional dimension and then to bore an axially extending hole at each end followed by the insertion of the tip shanks each into a respective hole usually with the application of some suitable cement. This practice is followed in the present invention wherein the end of the shuttle body 10 has a hole 17 bored therein for the reception of the shank 13 of the tip member 11. The diameter of the hole 17 is somewhat less than that of the shank 13 of the tip member so that when the tip member is mounted on the shuttle body, the shank 13 will be firmly gripped and held in the hole 17.

It is, of course, well known that whenever a tip member having a shank portion is'driven into a hole of a smaller diameter, there is a definite tendency to split the end of the wooden shuttle body, and therefore to overcome this splitting, it has been the usual practice to provide a metallic sleeve in the end of the shuttle body surrounding the shank porticn of the tip member, this shank being driven into an annular groove in the end of the shuttle body thereby to effectively reinforce the end of the shuttle body and prevent the same from splitting. In accordance with the preferred form of the present invention there is provided a sleeve or ferrule 18 which not only reinforces the shuttle body but also serves to more securely attach the tip to the shuttle body. The ferrule 18 has an end wall 19 provided with a central hole 20 therethrough having a diameter smaller than the largest diameter of the non-circular portion 15 of the tip 11.

The non-circular portion 15 aforementioned is particularly evident in Figures 4, 5, and 6. As shown, some of the alternate shapes are either polygonical or have ribs or splines extending lengthwise of the shank portions. These protruding portions such as at 22 in Figure 4 or the corners 23 and 24, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, broach their way through the hole 2% in the end wall of the ferrule 13 to snugly aifix the tip 11 to the ferrule 18 when the parts are in assemble-d relationship. Additionally, the protruding portions dig into the wood in the end of the shuttle.

The ferrule 18 is mounted in the annular groove 25 in the end of the shuttle body 14) in such location as to surround the non-circul'ar portion 15 of the shank 13. It has been found expedient that when forming the annular recess 25, the depth thereof be slightly less than the total height of the ferrule 18 so that when the ferrule 18 is driven into the end of the shuttle body 10, it will tend to be driven into the body of the wood at the end of the shuttle body. Likewise, the width of the annular groove 25 is slightly less than the thickness of the walls of the ferrule 18, a further tight bond thus being afforded between the body of the shuttle 1t) and the walls of the ferrule 18.

in assembling a shuttle tip to the shuttle body, the ferrule 18 is first placed in the annular recess 25 and then the shank 13 of the shuttle tip 11 is passed through the hole 20 and into the hole 17 in the end of the shuttle body 10. The entire assemblage thus placed can be then driven home, during which operation the ferrule Walls dig into the body of the shuttle 10 and the corners or the protrusions of the non-circular portion 15 broach their way through the end Wall 19 of the ferrule 18 and into the shuttle body, thus forming a tight assemblage of the tip, ferrule, and shuttle. With this type of assemblage in accordance with my invention, it has been found that the torque necessary to rotate the shuttle tip with respect to the shuttle body has been increased at least threefold over the torque necessary to rotate a shuttle tip having the same type of construction but not provided with a ferrule having an end wall through which portions of the shank of the shuttle tip may broach their way. Thus, through the organization hereinabove described, the tip members will be more firmly held in the ends of the shuttle bodies and there will be less necessity to discard otherwise good shuttles by reason of the tip members becoming loose.

I claim:

1. In a loom shuttle having a body provided with a bore at one end thereof, said body having an annular recess surrounding said bore and concentric therewith, a sleeve positioned in said recess and having an end wall provided with an opening therethrough, said recess having opposite inner and outer substantially parallel walls spaced from each other initially a distance less than the thickness of the wall of said sleeve, a tip member having a shank positioned in said bore, said shank having a noncircular enlarged portion immediately to the rear of the tip member passing th-roughsaid opening and interlocking with the material of said end wall about said opening, said bore being initially of a diameter smaller than said shank, said non-circular portion extending from said opening into said bore and interlocking with the material of said body about said bore.

2. In a loom shuttle according to claim 1 wherein said opening in said wall is circular and said non-circular portion of the shank extends radially outwardly into the material of the wall about said opening.

3. In a loom shuttle according to claim 1 wherein said opening in said wall is generally circular and the same size as said bore and said non-circular portion of the shank is substantially rectangnilar in cross section with the diagonals of said cross section exceeding the diameter of said opening whereby a substantial portion of the corners of said rectangular portion extend radially into the material about said opening and said bore.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 639,896 Ha-mblin Dec. 26, 1899 2,501,624 Tifit Mar. 21, 1950 2,545,427 Kaufmann, Jr Mar. 13, 1951 2,548,052 Phaneuf et al Apr. 10, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 967,293 France Mar. 22, 1950 

